Rod Blagojevich case, and media, back in court

Lawyers for Rod Blagojevich are back in court Friday in what could likely be his last bid for freedom — and that’s left journalists who have long covered the circus surrounding the former Illinois governor feeling reflective about one of the most bizarre sagas in politics.

Blagojevich will be spending the day inside Englewood, a low-security facility in Littleton, Colo., when his lawyers deliver oral arguments before the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the appeal of his conviction and 14-year sentence for corruption.

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While his trials and the aftermath offered reporters surreal scenes to cover, the Chicago courtroom on Friday will be noticeably missing the antics of the now-imprisoned politician, several journalists who have spent years on the Blagojevich beat noted in interviews with POLITICO.

Chicago Sun-Times political reporter Natasha Korecki started covering the saga at the beginning while on the courtroom beat and wrote “Only in Chicago: How the Rod Blagojevich Scandal Engulfed Illinois; Embroiled Barack Obama, Rahm Emanuel, and Jesse Jackson, Jr.; and Enthralled the Nation.”

“He had this presence, you know, good or bad — it’s there,” she said. “And when he walks into the building, you know it. So, to that extent, it’s just a little bizarre without him being here. But, from my perspective, I want to follow it to the end.”

Of the first and second trials, Korecki said, “It’s just one of those trials you only see once — or twice — in a lifetime. This one was historic … It was like a reporter’s dream.”

And there’s no shortage of weird stories from reporters who covered the ins-and-outs of the Blagojevich show.

One particularly strange incident that stood out for Michael Tarm, The Associated Press’s federal and legal affairs reporter in Chicago who has been on the Blagojevich story since just before the first trial, was the moment when the former governor walked over to where reporters were waiting to get into the courtroom and “thrust his two hands in the air and said, ‘I’m an innocent man,’ with kind of an Elvis accent.”

“Impersonating Elvis on your way in to face federal charges for corruption, it just bewildered a lot of us,” Tarm recalled. “There was always the question of whether he understood — if it was an act or was he really in some kind of fundamental sense delusional? And that’s something that reporters amongst themselves were always, always discussing.”

The Chicago Tribune’s John Chase, who reported on Blagojevich going back to his first run for governor and co-wrote “Golden: How Rod Blagojevich Talked Himself out of the Governor’s Office and into Prison” with his colleague Jeff Coen, recalled the day his name came up in the tapes at the trial because he had called Blagojevich’s office about the investigation regarding the Senate seat the day before the governor was arrested.

“That was a little surreal, hearing my name and then in the book having to write my name as a small character,” Chase said.

The “insanity” that ensued when Blagojevich took the stand in his second trial and the federal prosecutor began the cross-examination by walking up to him and saying, “You’re a convicted liar, correct?” is the best example of the “crazy, antic, circuses” the Blagojevich trials were for the reporters who covered them, Korecki said.

On June 27, 2011, Blagojevich, a Democrat, was convicted of 17 corruption-related charges during a retrial, including some connected to his attempt to sell an appointment to President Barack Obama’s open Senate seat. In his first trial in 2010, Blagojevich, who was forced out of office in 2009, was convicted of one count of lying to the FBI. Under federal sentencing rules, Blagojevich must serve 85 percent of his sentence, or just under 12 years.

Chase won’t be reporting on the oral arguments for the Tribune, but said he can’t help keeping an eye on what’s happening with Blagojevich.

“Once he gets out, whenever that is, whether it’s next year or 11 more years, I’m confident he’ll not be quiet about making some sort of return to public life,” Chase said. “Whatever that is, whether it’s back in politics or doing radio or doing a blog.”

As for what he’s doing in prison, well, reporters haven’t heard from him directly. Blagojevich hasn’t granted any journalist an interview, likely due to the appeal, although his wife, Patti, and lawyers from both of his trials have given reports of what he’s been up to inside — washing dishes, running on the track and teaching a class on the Civil War, for example, they say.

Both Blagojevich’s physical absence and his uncharacteristic silence have been a little odd for the reporters who spent years covering every bizarre twist in the showman politician’s career and who will now converge on yet another courtroom Friday to continue documenting his story. Of course, breaking that silence by scoring the first prison interview will be the next big get for those on the seemingly endless “Blago” beat.

“If I get a sit-down with him I’d be able to answer the No. 1 question I get, which is ‘What color is his hair now?’” Korecki said.

And Tarm — who got the widely picked-up story of Blagojevich’s barber admitting to dying the former governor’s famous hair for years and saying it would turn gray in prison — agreed.